Home Field Advantage Tech

For years park design architecture has been changing the outcomes of games and many times, as guessed, the home field advantage stretches beyond the fans in the stands. The influence of a stadium’s build can be seen throughout many sports. In football, grass versus artificial and dome verses bracing the elements can be a big challenge for visitors. In basketball the depth of stadium from hoop to wall can create depth perception skews enough to even cause a few missed free throws. But these sports have a standard field or court size that is regulated. Baseball fields however can vary in size and slope, and the design of the stadium can change the park from a pitcher’s safe haven to a hitter’s paradise.

The design of the stadium will likely effect whether games tend to be high or low scoring and may even help home teams pull out a victory. Franchises know this fact which in turn may have stimulated a stadium building boom of no less than 22 new stadiums being constructed since just 1990. Everything is considered from the direction of home plate (will the ball be into wind or with), to where the sun will cast its shadow for afternoon games. Rangers Park, built in 1994, did many things to block the wind. The field was built 22 feet below the level of surrounding street, and even the scoreboard was angled just so to help block the wind. Additionally, each stadium construction element was tested to see how it blocked the wind (and that it would not create a wind tunnel).

However, despite stadium angling efforts and strategic placement of scoreboards, Mother Nature can be unpredictable. This fact leaves some organizations to take the home field advantage to the extreme. The notorious Minute Maid Park, home of the Houston Astros, exemplifies this with the 90-foot wide 30 degree incline in center field known as Tal’s Hill. Atop the hill is a flagpole. Both the hill and flagpole are purely decorative, but have caused loads of controversy. While this ‘feature’ is hardly high tech, it once again illustrates how design and architecture can play a role in adding a little home field advantage to those who are accustomed to the layout.

Although it seems that recruiting and player selection may possibly be influenced by a stadium’s layout, author of Field of Schemes: How the Great Stadium Swindle Turns Public Money into Private Profit Neil deMause says, "It takes three, four, five years to build a stadium, so most of your roster is going to turn over," …"It's hard to build a stadium around a particular player." Though when selecting great talent, it is very possibly the knowledge of the home field tendencies may just play a role. Ref. Popular Mechanics